Eight months after it began an ambitious project to digitize a lifetime worth of music, artwork, photos and various other property of one of the world's most renowned musicians, Hewlett-Packard revealed May 26 that Sir Paul McCartney's new cloud storage/access system has launched and is open for business.

McCartney's publishing company, MPL Communications, is handling the day-to-day business of using the cloud-stored content for publishing, licensing, sales--and even giveaways, if McCartney so chooses.

Recognising the growing need for vendor neutral standards in the cloud computing field, the Apache Software Foundation has prioritised development of its Libcloud unified cloud interface as a top level project, the organisation announced.

UK businesses are considering the introduction of private cloud platforms while waiting for the public cloud market to mature, according to research from analyst firm Quocirca.

The survey of almost 1,000 organisations, including 101 UK companies, shows that almost half are positive about using the cloud as part of their IT platform, compared with 10% which consider cloud as a "passing fad".

Cloud computing relies heavily on robust network connections in order to facilitate a fluid data environment. This is having a dramatic effect on the edge in particular as it adapts to its new role as a bridge between disparate resource pools.

One of the ways this is playing out is increased WAN functionality on routers and gateway devices. Coupled with outside WAN optimization and other technologies, the goal is to provide seamless transition between on-premise infrastructure and the cloud.

One of the lessons that the history of technology tries to teach us – and that most of us resolutely refuse to learn – is that revolutionary new technologies never stay monolithic for long. Instead, they fracture into distinct niche businesses at lightning speed.

For example, it’s only been about three years, but there is no such thing as “the” smartphone industry. Rather, there are a bunch of new sub-industries based on the original smartphone technology, but which now rarely compete with one another: iPhones, Android phones, Blackberries, as well as distinct premium, mid-priced and budget products within them.

By now, if your disposition is like mine, you’re trying to avoid stomach cramps as you read all the latest articles, columns, and blogs extolling the virtues and inevitability of cloud computing as the technology to save the human species from self-inflicted destruction. After more than 25 years of experience in the netherworld between technology and business, let’s say I’m more than a bit skeptical about many of the claims people are making about the cloud.

With its new AppUp offering, Intel hopes to facilitate a new kind of cloud service for small businesses that have security concerns but want to take advantage of the cost benefits of moving to the cloud.

The service will let small businesses use applications hosted on hardware that is located on premise but pay only for what they use and leave the management to someone else.